whirlwind tour
Thus ends the whirlwind tour of Nova Scotia. I've taken a whole bunch of
pictures, and you'll be able to see them as soon as I can upload again on my
flickr account.
THE SYNOPSIS:
The flight was not too good. I forgot that I had a jacknife attached to my
keychain while going through security. I no longer have that jacknife. The
security guy was really nice about it, though, and was continually amazed at
how much my purse could hold, as he pulled item after item out of it.
My parents had driven down at the beginning of the week, to do a tour and
take things slower, and my dad was to pick us up at the airport. Andrew and I
flew together, but Chris was on an earlier flight, so we said our goodbyes to
him and played crazy eight count down for two hours as we waited for our own
flight to board. Once we were on the plane, we found out that we were also
doing a stopover in Montreal, as they had combined two flights and not told
us. An hour and one screaming new-born baby later, we landed at Dorval, where
we had to wait another hour before we could take off again. As a result, when
we arrived in Halifax, we found that Dad and Chris had been there for two
hours already.
It was now midnight, so we toddled off to our beds. Which
were on the floor. Well, the boys' were, but mine was an odd sort of fold out
chair (extraordinarily uncomfortable) crammed between a desk and a dresser and
a closet and the door in the computer room. So at least I could check my
email, even though everyone knew I was away and didn't email me. *sigh*
Anyway, up at the crack of dawn the next day to visit some friends' cottage in
Rose Bay, near the Ovens. Truly a beautiful spot, and the cottage itself is
just one room, no amenities whatsoever, not even insulation, but it's
absolutely the classiest thing ever. I got some nice shale from the ocean
there, and nearly killed myself climbing a cliff to get it!
We then drove all the way back to Halifax, about two hours, to get ready for
the post-wedding-rehearsal-dinner party at my ex-aunt's place, which is at
Bouthilier Point (pronounced "boodileer"). It was right on the ocean and it
was GORGEOUS. The entire interior was white, even the furniture. It was also
cool to be able to meet my cousin's mother and her husband and all their
children and stepchildren. We all thought it was very odd that all of us were
related to Alex but had never met before. Alex's stepsister was giggling
because she had introduced herself to my father earlier as Alex's sister, and
my father had replied, of course that he was Alex's uncle. She was looking
forward to introducing herself, as a sister, to Alex's father, when he arrived.
It was kind of tricky for us at the party, however, because all the people
there were in couples and already knew everyone else, and we were the
outsiders. And it's really hard for people to break in on conversations like
that, so we were bored after a while, not to mention exhausted from our
afternoon of cliff climbing, which followed a horrendous plane ride and a
nearly sleepless night. Not to mention the blow up in the car when my father
got us lost en route to this party. We got back to the place we were staying
at around two, and went straight to bed.
Saturday morning we went for a brief tour around Dartmouth in the car before
having tea with my "Aunt" Jean, an old neighbour from our first house in
Dartmouth. Luckily this didn't involve much driving, as Dartmouth is a small
city.
We headed home to get ready for the wedding and then headed out to Indian
Harbour, which is about an hour out of Halifax, and about four seconds from
Peggy's Cove. The wedding was at a hotel there, right on the ocean.
The ceremony was beautiful and so simple and classy. Alex looked incredibly
nervous when I talked to him beforehand, so I took pictures. Erika's dress
was stunning, of course. You can't be Miss Nova Scotia and get married in a
sack, I guess. They also got married right on the shore, with the islands and
the purple sky behind them. Something out a movie, really.
The reception and dinner were hilarious. Traditional Nova Scotia style, where
we all got up and told funny stories about the bride and groom. Erika fell
out of her chair at one point, because she had tipped it backwards too far,
but it was very funny and no harm was done. There was a dance afterwards,
with a live folk band playing traditional maritime music, so there were a good
many red faces and stomping feet around. The whole building shook for some
songs.
We were soon exhausted, of course, and headed home about one. Andrew and I
got up at the crack of dawn this morning and took a walk around our old
stomping grounds to get some pictures for posterity. We didn't get to see
everything because we really didn't have any time on our own. It was really
interesting to see how SMALL everything had become. Our first house there and
our second house were only six blocks apart, and the old route to and from my
school that seemed to take forever took us ten minutes, there and back, when
we did it this morning. Even the houses I thought were so huge are actually
quite small, although what trees there are that survived Hurricane Juan are
ENORMOUS. I guess it has been fifteen years, after all.
We all trooped over to our neighbour's house who lived across from us at our
second house. Janet, the head of that household, had just had a Tom Selleck
and Steven Baldwin movie filmed in her house. It plays the part of a
criminal's residence, and is in the final film for a total of four minutes.
She had all our old neighbours over for coffee, and that was
probably the most fun thing we did, because it was cool to see how the kids
had grown up, and, typical to the small town, to see who had hooked up with
people we know. One of my neighbours has been seeing this guy I was in
primary, grade one, and grade two with, Joel. Weird. It was also amazing to
see how small the PEOPLE had become. They were astounded to see how tall I
had become, as I didn't break the three-foot height for some time when I was
small. The only downer was that my special friend, Christopher, couldn't be
there for the event. I saw him briefly once when he was fifteen and going
through the sullen and silent adolescent phase, but before that I hadn't seen
him since he was four and I was eight and I left the maritimes for BC.
It was such a hectic trip. We went straight from that gathering to the
airport, where, thankfully, we weren't rerouted through Montreal (although we
had THREE screaming babies on board), and I just got home about an hour ago.
It was literally over in a flash. I still haven't assimilated everything I
saw, and can't really say anything philosophical about it. I'll need a few
days.
It was definitely worth it to see everything and how it had changed, and see
all the people I never thought I'd see again, but there was so much driving,
and waiting around, and late nights and early mornings that the boys and I
were never so glad to get home as we were an hour ago. Of course, Chris had
to go back, because he'd picked up the wrong bag at the airport and mine was
still there. Unfortunately, the ticket counter was closed when he got there,
so hopefully I'll have my bag tomorrow. I guess I'll wear sneakers to work .
. .
Posted by Ally at August 21, 2005 07:47 PM